It has been a somewhat crazy start to the year and I have been feeling overcooked and unable to see or feel wonder on a scale that I thought mattered. Tired to the point of not caring any more. There have definitely been very few a-ha moments! Work has been nuts and I had been trying to take leave since about September last year, but it never quite happened. So as soon as the dust settled in February I checked out for a couple of weeks and took myself off to the South Coast. The seaside has always been soothing for me, and I hoped it would work its magic…

There’s never been another moment like this particular one, and never will be again. – Leo Babuta Walt Whitman said: “Every moment of light and dark is a miracle”, but oh how easy it is to simply see them as day and night — the dividers that decide what is work time and what is sleeping time. The way-points on the road to the weekend. Over and over and over. The last few years have simply been a melange of head down, bum up, working to re-establish myself after a life rearrangement. Limping from weekend to weekend. Focussing on making sure there’s a roof over my head and…

Wherever there is a human being, there is an opportunity for a kindness – Seneca After a year of having kindness as my guiding theme, it seems to me that kindness forms a rock-solid base from which to operate in life. I have become stronger in a softer kind of way, not just with myself, but with those around me. I have been far more mindful of my first reactions to things, and I think the year has smoothed off some of my rough edges, without sacrificing the inherent sass and cheekiness in me. Throughout the year I saw unbidden reminders in my social media feeds and in books and…

Today marks the 100th anniversary of the Armistice at the end of World War I. It was supposed to be the war that ended all wars. But there have been conflicts rumbling on around the world nearly continuously ever since. I attended the commemoration at the Australian War Memorial this morning and as always came home with a million thoughts whirling around. I’d like to share some with you and introduce you to my great grandfather – William St John Collier. William St John Collier My great grandfather signed on to join the 60th Battalion of the Australian Imperial Force in July 1915. Will Collier, as he was known, was…

Spring has sprung and we’re galloping headlong into the final quarter of 2018. Christmas is just around the corner, and it’s generally the busiest time of the year, so I decided that a recap of what I’ve learned about kindness so far would be in order to help me focus and make it through in one piece. So here we go … kindness is … Kindness is taking time to stop and to appreciate the blossoms on the tree that are there for such a short time. This is my tree out the back, and even as I type the wind is making the petals drift down like snow. Kindness…

This article was first posted on my Robertson Studios blog on 7 January 2018. Further kindness updates can be found here, but from now on I will be posting wordy articles and updates on this blog. “In a world where you can be anything, be kind” – Unknown That is the mantra that I will use to set my intention for the year ahead, and I have chosen KINDNESS to be my guiding word. Why did I choose kindness? It’s one of those serendipity things really. I started thinking about my hopes for this year in early December, collected a list of words that I felt fit the bill, and let it…

It has been a long time since I had a personal blog to share my thoughts. I closed my old one about four years ago when I felt that it had run it’s course. I’ve been blogging about my art for about 12 years now, but I am feeling the itch to write about other topics again too. I have no idea how often I will write, or even what I will write, but I do know that this is as good a place as any to practice. Sharing is caring:0